A Different Kind Of Romance
by JontyLeslie
Summary: Kaileb and Jacob are two of Glasgows youths. Living in a society where being gay is not completely accepted they struggle to live as an openly gay couple in the southern suburbs of glasgow. From two inimical corners of society, can their love survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I was walking down Buchanan Street in Glasgow, passing H&M as I saw him at the steps of the other entrance to Buchanan Galleries. I looked around and realised I could not hear a thing, yet the people around me seemed to be talking. I looked back at him as he stood up, in no control of my body at all I fell down the moment our eyes met.

I woke up in a bland room, with blue grainy walls and a curtain around whatever I was laying on. I looked to the end of the bed and saw what sort of resembled a shelf. On the shelf was a box of chocolates, a card that had already been opened and a bouquet of flowers, white lilies. My favourite flowers, but from who? How could anyone possibly have known this fast about what happened? Or so I thought to myself before looking at the clock which had the time and date. June 13th. 3 days! I had been out cold for 3 days! What the hell had happened to me for three days? I look around and press the button on the headboard to call for a nurse and soon enough a young lady was attending to me.  
"How may I help you Jacob?" She asked quietly in one of those fake _I'm happy to help_ voices.  
"Where am I? And who are these gifts and the card from?" I asked with a completely blank look on my face. Sure, I was okay now, but I didn't know where I was nor did I know who had come to see me.  
"You are in the Western Infirmary Jacob and those gifts are from a young man named Kaileb. He said he would be back to see you in… um… well he should be here now" She said almost too excited to actually be real.

"Hello stranger" I heard from across the room. It was him. From the street on the 10th.  
"Who are you?" I asked him absolutely confused as to how he knew who I was.  
"I am Kaileb, you don't know me but I have a feeling you soon will." He told me shortly.  
"And why do you say that now?" I asked him, wanting to know more about this strange yet extremely beautiful young man sitting right in front of me.  
"Because you are about to be discharged and I am taking you for coffee." He explained to me.  
Looking around the room and pinching my arm to check that this was real, I finally looked back at him with a smirk on my face and said "And what makes you think I will go anywhere with you?"

Eventually he got me to agree to go for coffee with him, we went for coffee then for lunch and then we went to Kelvingrove Park in the west end of Glasgow. We had coffee at Costa Coffee on Buchanan Street across from the Apple Store, the decor was the same as every other cosa, with maroon seating and walls. Though I was not particularly concentrating on the coffe. I was more drawn in by his moss green eyes and that dimple which showed up slightly when he would smile at something I say. His great complexion and smooth jaw were just extra perks to the fact that he was actually a very interesting person. He told me more about himself, like how he worked in a restaurant waiting tables for over snooty customers and how he had to put on a smile even though he really wanted to kick most of them. His short brown hair was all in place with his fringe flicked over slightly to the right and his short hair at the back and sides perfectly lined out his ears and neck. He had a perfectly long neck with muscular features to his collar bone. He was just beautiful.

We left costa and went to a restaurant called Browns at George square across from Queen Street train station, it was a very nice place with a warm cocoa colour to the walls with nicely set tables with a candle and a single flower in a vase. A waiter approached us almost as soon as we sat down to ask what we would like for drinks and Kaileb ordered a dry white wine and a rosé for me. How he knew what I drank god only knows but he knew which impressed me all the more. We sat for another twenty minutes chatting about our daily lives and what we do and don't like about the country. Polotics, not a conversation I enjoy getting into, but for some reason with Kaileb it seemed appropriate. He didn't particularly take much of an interest in polotics either and the subject quickly changed again to ourselves. He told me more about his job and said that he received more money in tips than his actual wages. He was not a smoker (which I was really thankful for, as I do not smoke either.) He didnt drink much but on a special occasion or on a date he would have a single glass of dry white wine. That was the easiest thing to remember about him besides his boyish good looks. He told me about his mother and father and that he has a younger sister named Claire. His mother was an accountant and his father was in real estate. His younger sister was still in school. He then went on to ask me about my family and what I did. I told him my mom doesn't work and my father left us when I was little so I dont personally remember all that much about him. I have two sisters, Nicole and Tracy. I told him I have a dog named Harry and a cat named Mikey. He didn't seem bored with this conversation like he did with polotics. I asked him why he came to me in hospital and he told me that it was his fault, we shared eye contact and I fell so he felt bad.  
"Oh so this is a pity date?" I asked him.  
"No, not at all, I want to get to know the young man who literally fell head over heels for me." He said smiling and in a very light tone of voice.  
"Well I wouldn't say for you, must have been the girl next to you." I said, slipping him a cheeky grin.  
"Oh definitely. Because you are clearly into women." He said with a chuckle and a bump in his voice.

After lunch at Browns, we walked up to Sauchiehall street and continued down towards the west end of Glasgow.  
He took me by the hand and my first reaction was to pull away and look at him like he was crazy.  
"What are you doing?" I asked him quietly "Do you want to get us killed?"  
"Jacob, calm down. We are safe here" He told me, looking around showing me that nobody was batting an eyelid at us.  
I took a glance around to check that no body was going to come for us and after a minute of registering that we were safe I took his hand and we continued to walk across the junction. It took us about five minutes to get to the park from the end of Sauchiehall street, the trees all looked so fresh and beautiful in the summer. The people of the west end were mainly students and young couples with small children. The inhabitants of the park consisted of grey squirrells, pidgeons and ducks at the pond. We walked around the park five times and finally stopped at the fountain and spoke some more about daily life and made jokes about how much better we must know each other than most of our friends.

A good few hours later he took me back home to my house in the southern suburbs and even walked me to the door.  
"Would you like to come in for a drink?" I asked him, hoping that he would say yes.  
"Sorry, I actually have somewhere I need to be; in fact I kinda needed to be there a few hours ago."  
I looked at my phone and realised that we had been out for over four hours.  
"alright but call me okay?" I asked of him as he turned to walk to his car.  
"Sure thing, I'll call you later" He said aloud from his car door.

I got in and waited for him to call me, another few hours had passed and he still hadn't phoned me. _Oh well, I guess today was okay and so what if I don't see him again. He's nothing special_. I thought to myself. And then the phone rang. It was him. _Oh crap! What do I do? Should I answer? Should I leave it? I'll just pick up!_  
"Hello?" I said as I picked up the phone.  
"Hey stranger, how are you doing?" He asked across the phone?  
"Sorry who is this?" I asked teasing him.  
"Don't be like that now, wouldn't you like to see me again sometime?" He asked me, to which I really wanted to scream yes. But that is not polite now is it?  
"Yeah, that sounds nice Kaileb." I said to him "What were you thinking?"  
"Friday, dinner with me at Buzzy's?" He asked me with a little upturn in his voice at the end of his sentence.  
"Kaileb?" I asked.  
"Yes, Jacob" He said.  
"Tomorrow is Friday." I told him.  
"Indeed it is." He said "Will you join me for dinner at Buzzy's?"  
"Sure."  
"goodnight Jacob"  
"goodnight Kaileb"  
And with that our conversation was over. Over. Until Friday when he would pick me up from my house for dinner at Buzzy's.

Friday morning came and I got up and showered and chose out some clothes. I picked out a grey teeshirt with no pattern on it, plain I went for plain. A pair of black jeans and my plain red shoes. Nothing special, just casual attire for the day ahead. I had almost forgotten about our date before I got an SMS from Kaileb reminding me about dinner. I had no idea what I was going to wear, I didnt have many clothes and those that I did have weren't particularly fancy nor were they appropriate for a date really. I had to go out and get some new clothes but had no money to buy any, so I SMS'd Kaleb back and told him I didn'y have any formal wear to put on tonight. He replied saying just to keep on whatever I was wearing. So with that I dried my hair off and set it in place, moved at my own slow pace to the kitchen and started making my coffee.

Later on that day I went out to the shop to buy some milk and bread, I looked down at the list in my hand and continued through the shop to the confectionary aisle. I saw my favorite biscuits there, they were the Cadbury's Finger biscuits. I had a feeling that Kaileb would come inside for tea and biscuits after our date. I continued through to the alcohol section and picked up a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. I know Kaileb likes his dry white now, as i said it was probably the easiest thing to remember about him. I looked at my watch and saw that it was already approaching two o'clock and Kaileb would be at my house at six.  
I rushed home and as I got through the door, ran into my mom and younger sister.  
"Why in such a rush Jacob?" My mom asked as i rushed up the stairs to my room to get everything clean.  
"Got a date, need to get ready!" I shouted down the stairs as I heard them giggling to each other.  
"That's nice, you finally found a girl. What's her name?" She shouted back up the stairs with a slice of excitement in her voice.  
Before I could stop myslef from shouting down the stairs I yelled "Kaileb, really please don't bother me, I need to get ready!""Darling? I don't think I heard you right, what did you say her name was?" She called back up confused.  
"I told you, Ka-yleigh!" I stopped and hoped I had managed to save myself this time realsing what I had just shouted to her.  
"I don't think that was it, is there something you would like to tell me Jacob?" She called as she climbed the stairs and strode into my room. She sat on the end of my bed as I rushed to make sure my hair was brushed. She stopped and just looked at me.  
"Did you say Kaileb darling?" She asked me as I turned to her and hung my head.  
"Yes, I will explain when I get home mum." I said to her as I pulled open my wardrobe door and pulled out a faux leather jacket and swung it on.  
"Can't we talk about this now?" She asked another question, difficult to answer, honestly I didn't know what to say to her. I just told her that he would be here soon and that I would explain everything to her when I get in later on tonight.

Six o'clock came and sure enough Kaileb was on time and rang the doorbell, I was out the door and walking to the car as soon as I got downstairs. He asked what the rush was, and I just looked at him as if to say _Come on!_ He didnt argue and got into the car and drove out of the estate.  
"Whats wrong?" He asked me turning his head from the road for a few seconds and then back.  
"I accidentally told my mom that I was going on a date tonight." I told him. My whole body language had changed from the previous day, before I was completely open and talkative. Tonight I was closed, my arms folded over and my head hanging low into my chest.  
"It's fine, she will understand." He told me and continued looking ahead at the road.  
"No, you don't understand Kaileb, in my area no one is gay. no one." I told him my body beginning to shake.  
"Calm down sweetheart" He told me "It will be fine, when we get back, I will be here if you need me and we can sit her down together and explain it to her.""Thanks" I said to him and began to loosen up. At least now I knew he wasn't going to ditch me in it and leave me to my moms wrath, he was going to take it up with her by my side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Kaileb walked in through the door first as we got back to my house. We walked through the front door and turned through the first door on our left into the living room to find my mum sitting on the large brown three seater sofa.  
"Good evening boys." She said to us as we sat down on the sofa diagonally across from her, on the other wall of the living room which was painted oatmeal in colour. She stopped what she was doing, put down her book and looked at us. Kaileb turned to me and took my hand and told me that I could do this.  
"Jacob" My mum said with a catch in her throat.  
"Yes mum, it is true" I told her "But I am just getting to know myself and Kaileb." I continued.  
"Jacob, I don't mind" She said to me in a soft voice I hadn't heard her use in years.  
"What do you mean?" I asked her.  
"I mean, if you're happy then who am I to say otherwise?" She said to me "But be careful around here, people might start noticing, and you know what it's like around here. Do you remember Johnny Scott?" She asked me.  
"Yes of course I remember Johnny Scott" I told her "But I won't get caught out the same way he did, and I dont hang out with the same croud that he did anyways."  
She just looked at me and put her head down as if to say that's not the point.

I got up and offered her a cup of tea, I didn't partcularly want to talk about it with her now. She wouldn't have understood. I got to the kitchen door down the hallway of half floorboard half planks from the original plans. My house was a mess, if I was completely honest, I was actually embarrassed to bring Kaileb into my house. I didn't know what he would think of the place. It wasn't a pristine palace but it was home. It was all I knew, for nineteen years of my life, my home was a council estate house in Castlemilk in Glasgow. It wasn't a particularly upbeat or lively place to live, but it certainly was not quiet either. With drunken teens partying on the street, doing drugs and having casual sex with each other, it was not exactly my ideal place to be. And the judgement that comes with the place, the upper and middle class citizens who looked down on my kind of people. It's fair to say they weren't exactly few and far between. But this was my home. A small council house in Castlemilk, a rough area in a city where my sexuality and lifestyle weren't accepted and even beaten senseless.

I got to the kitchen and swiched the kettle on, the kitchen was a small room no bigger than an en-suite bathroom in a 'middle class home' it had the necessary things though; a sink, a refridgerator, a bin, a counter and an oven. Oh and a kettle, that too. I looked around the place contemplating my life and how I planned to move forward. After a few minutes of daydreaming about a country home with a white picket fence and a lovely border collie with puppies that I would sell to city folk who had small children of their own and lived normal, everyday, busy lives, I continued to get a mug out the overhead cupboard and added two sugars, and a spoonful of coffee. I looked around to find another two clean mugs and saw that all the other mugs were in the sink, waiting to be washed.  
"Just another few minutes." I shouted through "Need to go to china to pick the tealeaves."  
Which was our home term for 'its going to take a while.' After two minutes or so, Kaileb walked through and told me he had spoken to my mom and she was okay with everything.  
"I really don't want to talk about it right now Kaileb." I told him, not in an aggresive tone but in a beat down and tired tone.  
"That's okay," he said "we can talk about it whenever you are ready."  
"I am ready, I'm just not in the mood for this conversation." I said to him "do you want a tea or coffee? I bought Cadbury's finger biscuits incase you wanted."  
"Sure." He said and then turned me around and just held me for a few seconds before I tucked my head into his neck. At this moment, I felt so comfortable. I was warm, at home and I seemed to be in the arms of a person that cared for me. We didn't know each other inside out but he could tell I needed some affection and that mattered more to me than whether or not I knew his favorite food or colour.

We went back to the living room carrying my coffee, mums tea and Kaileb had his tea and was also holding the biscuits in his other hand. We got to the living room door which he had shut behind him when he came to the kitchen. _Shit. How are we going to do this?_ I tried to push the door open with my hip but failed and then called through to door to my mum to get her to open it for us.  
"Surprise!" I said softly as I brought her tea and placed it by her side on the tea towel she was using as a coaster.  
"Thank you baby" She said to me as she lifted up her mug and took a sip. "Ooh it's hot"  
"Well it did just come out the oven" I said as we giggled a little, trying to lighten the mood in the house.  
"Your sister will be home soon, she was at Matts house." Mum told me as she looked over to the television which had switched itself on. As usual, in this house nothing works properly. The television switches itself on, the lights flicker all the time, the stairs have a hole in one of the steps as you walk up you nearly plummet to your death in the eaves, The lights upstairs only worked during the day which kind of defeated the whole purpose of having lights upstairs. My hairdryer was not working. My phone was on the brink, not that you got any signal in the house anyways, because the area we lived in was not particularly invested in.

My mum looked at me and could see I was zoning out. She cocked her head in my direction, hinting at Kaileb to sit closer to me, as she did this he scooted over the sofa slightly until he was sitting next to me with his arm around my shoulder. I came back to the room and apologised to them both for not staying concentrated. My mum got up off her seat for the first time since we got in and walked across to me and bent over to hug me. She began to cry a little and told me she loved me. She pulled her long brown hair behind her ears and continued to hold me crying softly. She picked herself up and wiped her eyes.  
"I'll leave you boys alone." She told us and left the room.  
With that I turned to Kaileb and burrowed my head into his chest, he had put both arms around me by this point and I could hear his heart beating and the warmth of his torso against my face. I leaned up and looked in his eyes, I could feel my eyebrows and lips tremble and pushed myself closer and reached my face into his. As our faces came into contact, I felt the warmth of the room hit me like a blaze of fire rushing through the australian bush. I closed my eyes and could see a multitude of colours from yellows and blues to reds, greens, browns and purple. It felt so intensely passionate that my arms fell weak and I could not move my body at all. _Oh fuck__._ I could feel blood rushing to my head, I could not feel any of my limbs, I could not hear the television that was still on in the background, I could no longer feel his body connected to mine. I was cold. I had blacked out again.

I woke up in my bed the next morning, turned to my side table to check the time on my alarm clock. 8:30AM. _Fuck!_ I had been out cold all night, my bed covers felt heavy though, for some reason there was a tug on the sheets. I turned to my other side to see Kaileb had fallen asleep on top of the duvet next to me, he was still asleep so I decided to get up and make myself a coffee and make him a cup of tea. I doubted we'd have any biscuits left, my sisters would most likely have eaten them all.

I walked slowly down the stairs as if it had been my first time walking, all my limbs felt so heavy still and walking was painful. I got to the kitchen to find my mum was there with my older and younger sisters. I didn't even know what to say but she did all the talking by standing up from against the counter and walking to me. She practically threw herself over me like an oversized coat. I told her I was still weak and couldn't hold her up just now.  
"Are you gay?" My younger sister said across the kitchen, in a raised voice as usual. My older sister looked at her as if to say 'where the fuck did that come from?' and then turned to look at me waiting for my answer.  
"What?" I asked, turning to my mom now giving her a death glare.  
"I saw a boy in your room on your bed." My younger sister continued "Is he your boyfriend?" She asked.  
"No, I mean yes, I mean... its complicated." I told her. "If you tell anyone, I will kill you!" I warned her, obviously an empty threat but I would not have been happy had she told anyone.  
"I won't, do you think I'm stupid?" She queried me bluntly. "I'm not ashamed of you, but I know what people around here are like! And can you imagine what would happen to me at school?" She said finally.  
"Exactly. So that is why we all need to keep this between us, as a family." I told them all, still looking blankly in my direction. They all looked as if they could not believe what they had just heard and nodded at a pace a snail would call to shame. I had nothing else to say, continued to the cupboard to get mugs out for Kaileb and I. Poured myself some coffee and made him some tea, added the milk and sugar and left the kitchen to walk back upstairs.

I got to my room, put my drinks on the bedside table and collapsed back onto my bed. Kaileb was still asleep. I roled over and put my arm around him, I wanted to wake him slightly to pull the covers over him but he looked so peaceful there and I decided to leave him be. I closed my eyes and imagined us on the beach in a warm country somewhere, laying next to each other like this with a towel under us and a basket of food. A Parasail over us keeping us in the shade but not blocking the warmth of the sunny day, the sound of the waves rushing against the shore and being dragged back in by the will of mother nature and the force of the moons impression on the sea. I could see the seagulls and the dogs running around with their tongues out slapping the sides of their faces as they lapped in circles of each other, greeting each new friend with a sniff. The children running about and the parents smiling and waving back or taking photo's of their little girls or boys in their swimsuits paddling in the broad turquoise green ocean. I came around when I smelled the bacon cooking downstairs, what a way to ruin a good daydream. I thought I better wake Kaileb up incase he had any plans that day and get him up and showered.

I tugged slightly on his tee-shirt which was rolled halfway up his back from moving during the night. His head twitched a little and then he slowly lifted it and turned it to face me. He groaned and looked at his watch to see that it was already 9:30AM. I asked him if there was anything in particular that he had to do today and he told me that he was more concerned about seeing that I was okay than ensuring his plans came through. No he didn't have plans anyway. He leaned futher up towards me and kissed me on the forehead.  
"Im fine." I told him. And he pulled himself up, sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. I leaned over and gave him a sip of his tea, realising that it was still hot he put it down leaning across me to place it down on my bedside table. I waited a few moments and took a big gulp of my coffee, looking at me like I was mad Kaileb sat there with his wide-eyes on me as I took my second helping.  
"It's more milk than water darling." I told him as his eyes began to tear, only imagining the pain it would cause to gulp that much hot coffee down at once.  
"Thank god! Because I felt sorry for your throat." He said, with almost a slight giggle in his voice.  
He leaned across me again to pick up his tea and blew on it this time knowing how hot it was and then took another, rather smaller than mine, sip of his hot beverage. I never understood why people blew on hot food or drinks to cool it down, considering our breath is warm and every time that I tried blowing on my food, didnt actually help out at all instead it just meant I was out of breath when I swallowed my food. Maybe I was doing it wrong, who actually knows.

Once he had finished his tea, Kaileb got up and held his hand out to me. I asked him where he was taking me or what he had to show me but he said nothing and just stood there with his hand held out. I trusted him so I picked myself up and took his hand as he walked me down the hallway and down the stairs. We continued out the front door and up to his car, he walked around and opened the door for me by which time I had already let go of his hand, if my neighbours saw me holding his hand, jeez I'd never have lived it down. He closed the door after I got in and paced himself around the front of the vehicle and took another stride or two around the car to open his door and swing his whole body inside and sat into place ready to drive.  
"You're in a cheery mood today." I said to him, almost asking rather than telling him.  
"Yup." He replied.  
"Why?" I asked him, with slight confusion in my tone.  
"Because I woke up next to a really handsome young man who I think I like a lot." He told me in a good mood his sentence curving up with intonation at the end."So, where are we going?" I asked him, looking around as we drove down the motorway, passed fields and houses and then more fields.  
"Out." He told me, not seeming to change any expression on his face, from the one he normally has when he drives. A serious, _Don't talk to me while I drive Kind of face._


End file.
